How do you picture ASCII based Roguelikes?

[RiC David]

I've always been curious when it comes to simple graphics or in this case ASCII 'graphics', whether other people are re-envisioning what they see. The most I ever do is occasionally try to envision a hallway or room from a different perspective but I don't really overlay the simple black background and white walls with something realistic - it's more like if an ASCII Roguelike could be viewed from first person as is.

If a kobold is coming towards me then I'll actively call up the mental image of a kobold from time to time just to reinforce my sense of what I'm dealing with but I don't keep this up, it's just a brief flash from time to time.

It gets to the point where I'm so familiar with, say a < or > that as soon as one appears I know it only as a stairway; I never actually picture a stairway though.

Is this similar to your experience? If so, do you feel the intention (or experience of the creator of Rogue, let's say) is to reimagine it, akin to what box art often does for games?

Either way, I completely immerse myself in the game world - it's just that it's a simple looking world.

[guest509]

For me, my brain goes straight the characteristics of the object without generating a mental image or picture.

I picture nothing. I just assimilate the data.

[Vanguard]

Yeah, I almost never visualize anything.  I think of enemies and objects pretty much purely in terms of their tactical threat/utility.

[Trystan]

I might picture the overall setting or theme - caves, dungeon, space station, etc - but the things in the world are just a bag of attributes. Except with Dwarf Fortress. All I can see then is a bunch of dirty, drunk, half-naked, vomit-covered, short, hairy, fat, surly, dwarves. Maybe the generic Gygaxian fantasy settings are just symbols and the more unique or fleshed out settings have better imagery? So I guess I visualize the personality of the game more than the stuff of the game.

[guest509]

Good call Trystan. I visual the personality of the game as well, but more on an emotional level then really a visual one. There's now real mind's eye for me, more of a feel I'd say.

[Krice]

I do visualize ascii, but it's somehow vague. I don't have any details.

[Endorya]

When I was new to ADOM, I would feel a great difficulty trying to immerse myself in the game, because the ASCII would be confusing and misleading. But after a while, everything started to make sense. Now ADOM's ASCII is immediately translated to its true meaning the same way I assimilate English words without needing to translate them to my main language first.

So now, whenever I spot a 'k', I immediately see a kobold, skipping entirely the conversion process. It is the same concept as reading Roman numbering, you know automatically that 'IV' means '4'. It's like you just add a shortcut in your brain with a different icon, which in the end will call the same object.